Secure in the shoulder harness of a 250-pound jet pack, 16-year-old Harrison Martin rose a few feet off the ground. With two fans at his sides providing upward thrust, he hovered for about 45 seconds before settling back down on earth.

MIT researchers are investigating how a primitive fish uses its scaly exoskeleton to protect itself from the sharp teeth of its predators. The scientists' goal is to develop a better kind of armor for soldiers to similarly protect them from bullets, shrapnel, and bombs.

A scientist from the University of Florida has recently filed a patent that is attracting everyone from NASA and the US Air Force to UFO-seekers and sci-fi enthusiasts.

Since 2006, Subrata Roy, a mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor, has been working on a "flying saucer" aircraft design that turns surrounding air into plasma to generate its propulsion. The saucer, or "wingless electromagnetic air vehicle" (WEAV), has no moving parts and therefore could be more stable than airplanes and helicopters that rely on aerodynamics to provide lift.

As countless coaches have advised their athletes, often the best way to improve technique is to break things down into one movement at a time.

A new T-shirt that measures muscle output could take this strategy to the extreme. The shirt, which is embedded with small sensors, enables athletes to find out which muscles they're using at different moments, and how hard. The invention is part of the ConText Project.

As countless coaches have advised their athletes, often the best way to improve technique is to break things down into one movement at a time.

A new T-shirt that measures muscle output could take this strategy to the extreme. The shirt, which is embedded with small sensors, enables athletes to find out which muscles they're using at different moments, and how hard. The invention is part of the ConText Project.

A new robot named Flame is the most advanced walking robot that walks like a human. Researchers from TU Delft including Daan Hobbelen have designed the cutting-edge robot by making the traditional sloppy human walking movement more stable.

Faiz Rahman, a nanoelectronics researcher at the University of Glasgow, predicts that LED light bulbs for the home will start appearing on store shelves in the next 2-3 years to compete with incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.

Researchers have taken another step toward turning animal waste into biogas on a large scale.

Farmers have long called the odor of farm waste "the smell of money" in hopes of converting it into a practical energy supply. Animal waste can produce methane, which can be used directly for energy or converted to either methanol or a mix of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This synthetic mix can then be converted to clean fuels.

Off the coast of Northern Ireland in the rough waters of the Strangford Narrows, scientists have installed the world's largest underwater turbine. The project, built by Marine Current Turbines, should generate power for about 1,000 homes when it becomes operational this summer.

As soon as pharmacists develop an antibiotic, the bacteria it's aimed at begin developing resistance almost immediately. Now, a new study has shown an even more extreme comeback: some bacteria are literally eating our most potent antibiotics for breakfast.

Sometime in the future, 200-pound bugs may be roaming around the forests. That's not due to any increase in oxygen levels, but rather because these bugs are robots whose job it is to extinguish forest fires.